This invention relates to mailer type business forms, also commonly known in the trade as "mailers". Under some circumstances, it is desirable to produce a mailer that does not have a "fly sheet", that is one in which the top sheet of the product offered for sale allows one to view the address information. There have been a number of proposals for providing such a mailer. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,506 a mailer is provided that has a top sheet with a cutout therein, a transparent patch and a CB coating containing colorless dye disposed beneath the cutout, and a CF coating disposed on an underlying ply in alignment with the transparent patch. There also has been a proposal in U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,298 for the production of a mailer having the web underlying the cutout and a window patch comprises a web of self-imaging material. The self-imaging material is a coating of microcapsules of dye and dye developer. When impacted by an impact printer or the like, the web provides images on itself through the windows covered by the window patches. In U.S. Pat. No. B14,425,386 a mailer is provided which includes a localized self-imaging area on the top surface therein.
The prior art systems as described above each have some practical disadvantages associated therewith. For example in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,506, the application of a CB coating to the transparent patch, and the application of the patch so coated to the top web can have practical difficulties associated therewith. The utilization of a window patch web and an underlying web entirely of self-imaging material, as in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,298, can provide an unnecessarily thick mailer for some uses. A mailer according to U.S. Pat. No. B14,425,386 can have smearing of the address area as it runs through postal equipment since the postal equipment has the tendency to break the dye capsules, therefore reducing the legibility of the address and making it difficult to machine read.
According to the present invention, a mailer type business form is provided which overcomes the drawbacks associated with the prior art, examples of which are discussed above. The business form according to the present invention has a minimum number of parts and patches, yet provides a legible address area that is not as susceptible to rupture of the dye capsules when passing through postal equipment as some of the prior art systems.
According to the present invention a mailer type business form is provided which comprises the following elements: A top ply having a top surface and a bottom surface, and having means defining a cutout therein, the cutout having an area and position comparable to an address area on a piece of mail. A second, insert, ply underlying the top ply, including the cutout, and having a top surface in contact with the bottom surface of the top ply. A localized coating of self-imaging material formed on the second ply top surface only in the area thereof overlaid by the cutout. And, a third ply cooperating with the top ply to define an outgoing envelope, the second ply overlying the third ply. While a patch of transparent material can be used to cover the cutout by adhesively securing it to the bottom face of the top ply, in the preferred embodiment the cutout is completely open, free of any material therein or covering it.
Also in the preferred embodiment, the cutout has a generally rectangular shape with sides approximately three inches and one inch long, and the localized self-imaging material area has a generally rectangular shape with sides slightly greater in length than the cutout.
A wide variety of configurations and modifications can be provided, and the mailer can have a number of different other components. For example a fourth, insert, ply can have a top face thereof in contact with the bottom face of the second ply, with the second ply having a capsule coat (CB) on the bottom surface thereof, and the fourth ply may have a resin coat (CF) on the top surface thereof aligned with the capsule coat on the coat ply bottom surface. The top ply may have a carbon spot formed on the bottom surface thereof, or where a carbon spot is not provided the top ply may have a pantograph on the top surface thereof and block out print on the bottom surface thereof. A fifth ply is also preferably provided between the third ply and the fourth ply, the fifth ply comprising a return envelope.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple flyless mail which has maximum legibility of the address. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.